z87 motherboard choice

Hey guys

after much thinking about getting a 4670k i still have no idea what motherboard to get but i know for a fact i would like to overclock , i reckon about 4.4 would be a safe limit.

price limit £150ish

Well I've just finished my Haswell build using an Asus Z87-Pro mobo. It falls close to your price range so perhaps is worthy of consideration. My previous rig ran a Q6600 on an Asus PK5-E WiFi so I guess brand loyalty guided my choice.
My 4770K is air-cooled by a Noctua NH-D14 and housed in a Fractal Designs Define R4 case. I let the Asus Dual Intelligent Processors 4 software sort out the overclock and it returned an easy 4.408 GHz without me getting involved whatsoever. Asus also include Fan Expert 2 in their software bundle which profiled all the fans for optimum cooling and quietness.
This is a decent in-depth review of the board: http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/...owall=&start=1
and here is the board in my build: https://picasaweb.google.com/trevbron/Cerberus
I haven't explored the WiFi Go! features yet but I do hope to be able to wake the rig using my Asus Transformer and send output to the lounge TV.

The Asus Z87-Pro mobo would be ideal for your price range. I use Asus products so coming from my point of view, a worthwhile investment.

I'm tempted by the MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming myself.

A current trend towards Gigabyte was possible but I have in modern times (although on older boards) noticed trends of resetting to defaults (possibly unstable OC), and random SATA errors on boot. With my own Asus, I have just had previous memory instability when running 4 sticks.

Asus and Gigabyte tend to be more reliable.
My Gigabyte board is working flawlessly with Haswell.

With a brand new build you shouldn't be running 4 sticks anyway.

+1 vote for Asus; I've got three Asus mobos, & in terms of quality & reliability, I don't think they can be beaten.

Another plus one for asus. my last two have been great boards.

I got 4670k and asus z87 pro too!

Does this mean anything? http://www.computex.biz/bestchoice/W...4570&awtype=Z9

Not really, I'm sure nearly every motherboard has a bunch of awards from various sources.

So the main tech show where most of the z87 boards made an appearance means nothing?

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Originally Posted by Scainer

So the main tech show where most of the z87 boards made an appearance means nothing?

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No more than anything else, no. The more gliltzy/popular the more likely you are to get an award based on your presentation rather than the actual product. Read the reviews of sites that you trust and make your own mind up.

Typically you can't go wrong with Asus, Gigabyte or MSI, with others like Asrock etc popping up occasionally with great options. Then you just pick a motherboard with the features that you want for the price you want.

It's all a big promotional event. It sounds like the award is based solely off the marketting blurb on the box.

It's not like a review site where they have objectively tested the boards.

I'm looking to go z87 too and having a hard time choosing. Looks like it's hard to go wrong with any of the big names.

From the reviews I've read overclocking doesn't seem to be too hindered on anything £100 up so I'd go with the ports and features you need.

I've narrowed it down to something between the Gigabyte DH3 and the UD3H. The Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC seems to get rave reviews too but I think a lot of features may be wasted on my set and forget approach to overclocking.

Yeah you don't need to go overboard, unless you absolutely need the extra features the high end boards have.

I've chosen to go with the MSI z87-G45 gaming motherboard for my build. It seems to have good reviews and a decent price. Also matches my case and everything else and looks good to me.

I went for G45 Gaming which i managed to get for 105£ been great had no issues with it just need a better cooler to push my OC up :P

+1 for the MSI G45. With it going for ~£120, its arguably the best bang for the buck Z87 motherboard available as of now.